Senior members of Mejlis met with foreign diplomats in Kiev

Items on the meeting’s agenda include occupation of Crimea, problems faced by Crimean Tatars and Crimean Tatars regaining their rights.

KIEV (QHA) -

An annual meeting called ‘Human rights violations and persecution of Crimean Tatars in Russian-occupied Crimea: Chances of being protected by Ukraine and international community’ is currently being held in the Ballroom conference hall of Kiev’s Hayat Regency hotel. The meeting is attended by Mustafa Jemilev, Leader of Crimean Tatars, Ukrainian MP and Advisor to Ukrainian President on Crimean Tatar Affairs, Refat Chubarov, Mejlis Chairman, Ukrainian MP and President of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars, Mejlis members, foreign ambassadors and representatives of international organizations accredited to Ukraine

Mustafa Jemilev talked about Crimean Tatars having personal contacts with Turkish nationals getting deported, as well as Crimean businesses doing business with Turkish ones getting persecuted. He also mentioned the wicked policy pursued by the occupation authorities.

“The most pressing challenge we are facing today is liberation of Crimea. I have no doubt that the Russian authorities will be doing their utmost to force Crimean Tatars out of Crimea,” said Jemilev.

Mustafa Jemilev also stressed the importance of the international community maintaining sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation.

Refat Chubarov pointed out the important work Ukraine and EU countries are doing protecting Crimean Tatars’ rights. He thanked representatives of these countries and praised OSCE reports showing an appalling situation with violation of Crimean Tatars’ rights in Crimea. Chubarov then invited all those in attendance to join a discussion on liberation of Crimea.

“For some reason the subject of Crimea’s liberation is not discussed at the Minsk talks. This may lead to Crimea being lost forever and Crimean Tatars being left at the occupant’s mercy,” stressed Chubarov.

Alim Aliyev, Co-Founder of Krym SOS NGO, showed a map detailing cases of abuses of Crimean Tatars’ rights in Crimea after it got occupied by Russia.

“Since Russia annexed Crimea, the situation with abuses of Crimean Tatars’ rights there has deteriorated. A total of 194 cases of human rights violations have been reported in Crimea over the period. In the recent 2 weeks alone, 20 of such cases have been reported,” concluded Aliyev.

Sevgil Musayeva, Co-Founder of Krym SOS NGO, told about specific cases of human rights abuses, pointing out the need of creating an international monitoring mission there.

“This is a hitherto unheard of genocide, i.e. a hybrid one which forces people to leave Crimea. There are as many as 8,000 Crimean Tatar refugees we are aware of at the moment,” said Musayeva.